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Families whose relatives buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Further up the shoreline lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to handle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want additional sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with residents.”

He added there was time to consider all the choices. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of hallowed earth.